4 Weeks of Summer - Rebecca

When I asked if I wanted to be involved in this Daphne du Maurier blog tour, to celebrate the release of Rebecca, Frenchman's Creek and Jamaica Inn in the YA edition, I jumped at the chance. I've been curious to read Daphne du Maurier as she's one of those authors I've always been intrigued over. So when Poppy from Little, Brown sent me a copy of Rebecca, I was a mix of excited and a bit fearful. Nearly everyone I know who has read this seems to love this book.

Our unnamed narrator meets and falls in love with widower, Maxim de Winters. But when they marry and return to his Cornish home, Manderley, a change comes over him, and our narrator is filled with an uneasy dread. In this isolated house, she realises that she is friendless, barely knows the man she has married and, wherever she goes in that house, she is faced with the ghost of his first wife, Rebecca. And how is she met to compete with a phantom?

I must admit this from the off: this isn't my typical type of book. I realised this very early on and powered on, willing to try something new and different. Sometimes, this is a good thing to do.

This book is going to spilt you guys. You are going to either really like this tale or are going to hate it.

I can see people really like this book because of the pacing and writing, the tension that slowly builds and the psychologic elements that creep on our unnamed heroines and her doubts/fears that she is never going to meet up to Rebecca's standards (mainly through the actions of people around her, such as Maxim and Mrs Danvers). This is one of the original psychologic thrillers that I have read that tackles jealously, obsession, self doubt and self worth.

However, all those points can have the opposite effect on some of you. You might find it very slow in pacing and it lacks substance. It could been seen as quite a frustrating read.

For me, I did find it frustrating. I really enjoyed the writing and the style, but there were several moments I did want to throw the book across the room as I wanted the book to get to the story. But this was written in a different time, where setting up the mood and tone was more important than the story.

I'm glad I did read this, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. But it might be yours, so if you want to try it out, go for it.